#daephrin

Character Aesthetic: The Lark and the Egret Daephrin Starsworn & Eurynine Primmling

Tagged by @salt-water-siren.

(200 words)

Daephrin Starsworn was remarkably good at keeping his cool. Though the undead in general gave him a terrible case of the heebies, he sat calmly across from the Forsaken at the shadowed corner table of the tavern. It was a table for back-alley deals, and that's exactly what they were making.

The young man was unusually suave for a sailor, his smile winsomely charming and his demeanor friendly yet shrewd. Even hardened criminals tended to ease up around him, at least until he chose to start a brawl. There were no brawls tonight. Just a back-alley deal.

Daephrin was calm and collected as the Forsaken left his payment on the table and walked away. He reached out and swept the coin pouch into his lap, trying not to grunt as it thumped hard against his thigh. Once the Forsaken was well and truly gone, he pulled himself together, paid for his meal, and walked out of the tavern.

A song I listen to when I want inspiration for Daephrin (who owns, by far, the most black clothing as it’s his favorite color):

Daephrin would never admit it to anyone, but he has a little bit of a hero worship crush on Vereesa Windrunner. He secretly wishes he could have been a Farstrider and though she has thrown her lot in with the Alliance (and he doesn’t blame her!), Dae still thinks she’s gorgeous, talented, and a bit of a rock star in his eyes.

Oof. Owch. Why do you hate my fingers so? :P

Tziska had just returned to Silvermoon after a brief stint as a fashion model to drum up business for her tattoo parlor. She was sitting on a ledge and people-watching when this Forsaken with a gun slung across his back walked up and sat down next to her. They kvetched about the world, the perils of undeath, the passing fashion in the city, and even delved into some philosophy. He asked her what the business she did was - and in a rare moment of honesty, she told him exactly why she did tattoo work (to feed her addiction to causing pain). So Cadmus asked for a tattoo. That might’ve just been it, just friends bonding over the things that make undeath suck less, but then he lost an arm and an eye in a mission gone sideways and she offered to make him a prosthetic in glass that could restore his sight... For a price. Her price was fourteen days of his time.

Xamasyn met his scoundrel at a bar and offered to mend his wounded arm. They couldn’t stay away from one another after that.

Daephrin had made friends with a mischievous slip of a human girl in Shattrath. Together, they skinny-dipped in Aldor fountains and got drunk in seedy Lower City bars. She slipped a magic mickey in his drink and discovered the dark secret of the ink on his arm and the way his curse turned the agony into ecstasy. Seeing an opportunity for some fun, she convinced him to go along with a scheme to present him as a birthday present to an imperious shadow priest friend of hers. A few days later, he ran into the priest again and they began to dance warily around a magnetic something between them. Shit hit the fan in Shattrath and the human girl and her draenei companions had to flee the city; her two elf friends fled lest they be guilty by association. Together, they trekked the length of the Eastern Kingdoms, gathering herbs to sell and camping in the woods. Their every moment was electrically charged and when the storm finally broke, it was because Daephrin dared to call the priest’s bluff. He’s been a perceptive little charmer and pushing his lover’s emotional boundaries ever since.

Xeremuriis happened to be working off her keep at an inn at Light’s Hope when she ran into a cute vindicator who had just pissed off his commander for the last time. She rescued him to be her bodyguard instead.

Tziska isn’t very patient, unfortunately. She’s rather quick to assume the worst and it’s definitely caused some friction with her partner. (Granted, he’s a pessimistic devil, so they both assume the worst and it’s terrible.)

Lysonde is a saint of infinite patience. I don’t know how she does it. I’d’ve strangled Cal six times over for being a bull-headed dense sumbitch, but Lys just smiles and loves him.

Xamasyn’s patience hasn’t really been tested yet.

Hadeon will grudgingly admit that he enjoys his current traveling partner’s fussing. He enjoys being fussed over in general, though he pretends not to.

Tziska loves her partner’s inner strength. She once said he had “the will of a king” and she meant that most sincerely. He doesn’t see it, but she believes he has the willpower to do just about any damn thing he sets his mind to.

Lysonde loves Cal’s secret dork side.

Xamasyn loves how his partner will let him be himself with no demands. That open willingness to accept him as he is is most welcome.